Florida Land Trusts

A Florida land trust holds real estate in the name of a trustee while the beneficial owner’s identity stays off public records. The trust is governed by Florida Statute § 689.071, which treats the beneficial interest as personal property rather than real property. The beneficial owner retains full control over the property through the trust agreement.

Land trusts provide privacy but not creditor protection on their own. A judgment creditor who identifies the beneficial interest can reach it. The asset protection value comes from combining a land trust with an LLC or other entity that holds the beneficial interest and provides a legal barrier to collection.

How a Land Trust Works

A land trust separates legal title from beneficial ownership. The trustee holds legal title and appears on the recorded deed. The beneficial owner holds the beneficial interest under a private, unrecorded trust agreement. County property records show only the trustee’s name. The beneficial owner’s identity does not appear in any public filing.

The trustee’s role is limited. Section 689.071 limits the trustee to acting only as directed by the beneficiary or the holder of the power of direction. The trustee does not independently manage the property, make investment decisions, or collect rent. The beneficiary retains full authority to direct the trustee’s actions, sell the property, refinance, or transfer the beneficial interest.

The trust agreement is a private contract. It does not need to be recorded, filed with the state, or disclosed to any government agency. The only public document is the deed transferring legal title to the trustee.

Privacy, Not Protection

The primary purpose of a land trust is ownership confidentiality. A potential plaintiff, creditor, or opposing party who searches county records will not find properties owned through a land trust under the beneficial owner’s name. This privacy can deter litigation by making asset discovery more difficult during the pre-lawsuit phase.

Privacy has limits. A land trust does not shield assets from a creditor with a judgment and the legal tools to enforce it. In proceedings supplementary, a judgment debtor must disclose all assets under oath, including beneficial interests in trusts. Concealing a land trust interest during a deposition or financial examination is perjury.

A land trust is a self-settled trust—the person who creates it is also its beneficiary. Under Florida law, a beneficiary’s interest in a self-settled trust is not protected from creditors, even if the trust is irrevocable. A creditor can obtain a judgment lien against the beneficial interest and force a sale.

Beneficial Interest as Personal Property

Section 689.071 classifies the beneficial interest in a land trust as personal property, not real property. This classification has several practical effects.

Transferring a beneficial interest does not require recording a new deed. The beneficiary assigns the interest through a private document, avoiding documentary stamp tax on the transfer. Real property conveyances normally trigger documentary stamp tax at $0.70 per $100 of consideration (plus a $0.45 surtax in Miami-Dade County). Assigning a beneficial interest classified as personal property avoids this cost.

The personal property classification also means that a judgment lien recorded against the beneficiary’s real property does not automatically attach to a beneficial interest in a land trust. The creditor must identify the interest and pursue it separately. Conversely, a lien against the trustee’s legal title does not attach to the beneficiary’s interest, and a lien against the beneficiary’s interest does not attach to the trustee’s title. Section 689.071(4)(d) creates a statutory firewall between the two.

Combining a Land Trust with an LLC

A land trust alone provides privacy without protection. An LLC alone provides protection without privacy. Combining the two delivers both.

In this structure, the land trust holds legal title to the real estate. An LLC holds the beneficial interest in the land trust. The investor owns the membership interest in the LLC. County records show the trustee’s name. The trust agreement identifies the LLC as the beneficiary. The LLC’s articles identify its members.

A creditor pursuing the investor’s personal assets faces charging order protection at the LLC level. The charging order redirects distributions but does not give the creditor management control or the ability to compel a sale of the underlying real estate. For multi-member LLCs, the charging order is the creditor’s exclusive remedy under § 605.0503(3).

Real estate investors with multiple properties often create a separate land trust for each property, with each trust’s beneficial interest held by a separate LLC. This isolates liability between properties. A slip-and-fall claim on one rental property cannot reach the equity in another property held by a different trust and LLC.

Homestead and Land Trusts

Florida Statute § 689.071(7) preserves homestead protection for property held in a land trust, provided the beneficiary uses the property as a primary residence and otherwise qualifies for the exemption. The constitutional protection from forced sale applies to the beneficiary even though legal title is held by the trustee.

The trust agreement must give the beneficiary the right to possess and occupy the property. Without this language, the homestead exemption may not apply because the beneficiary’s interest is classified as personal property rather than a possessory interest in real estate.

TBE Ownership Through a Land Trust

Married couples can hold the beneficial interest in a land trust as tenants by the entireties, adding another layer of protection. If both spouses are named as co-beneficiaries with TBE ownership, the beneficial interest is shielded from the individual creditors of either spouse.

The structuring matters. Both spouses must acquire their beneficial interest simultaneously, and the trust agreement must specify TBE ownership. A beneficial interest initially held by one spouse and later added to by the other may not qualify for TBE treatment. Loumpos v. Bank One (2024) reinforced that TBE creation requires satisfying the common law unities, even for personal property interests.

Documentary Stamp Tax Benefits

Transferring real property by deed normally triggers documentary stamp tax. Transferring a beneficial interest in a land trust classified as personal property under § 689.071 avoids this tax because the conveyance is an assignment of personal property, not a transfer of real estate.

This benefit applies when the property is already in the land trust and the transfer involves only the beneficial interest. The initial transfer of property into the land trust by deed does trigger documentary stamp tax if consideration is paid. Subsequent transfers of the beneficial interest between parties avoid the tax, making land trusts particularly useful for real estate investment groups that expect multiple ownership changes.

Limitations

Land trusts are not reliable as standalone creditor protection. The privacy benefit is real but limited to deterrence during the pre-litigation phase. Once a creditor has a judgment and uses legal discovery tools, the land trust does not prevent identification or seizure of the beneficial interest.

Some mortgage lenders view transferring property into a land trust as triggering the due-on-sale clause, though the Garn-St. Germain Act generally prohibits acceleration for transfers to inter vivos trusts where the borrower remains a beneficiary. Each lender’s interpretation varies, and borrowers should review their loan documents before transferring mortgaged property into a trust.

For investors and property owners whose total exposure exceeds what LLC structures and Florida exemptions can protect, offshore asset protection trusts provide a structural barrier that operates outside the U.S. legal system entirely.